Reviews - The Memoirs of Hadrian

The Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar

550 reviews for:

Ms. Yourcenar worked on this fictional memoir of the Roman emperor Hadrian for at least 20 years and it is considered a classic of historical fiction. I found it fine, but its greatness may be beyond me. I was very interested in the postscript in which the author describes how she wrote the book, her literary and human sources, which characters were real and which were created, and how and why she made various decisions about content. The only thing that caught my eye was a mention of Jesus which seemed to be an anachronism for someone born in the year 76 CE who was not a Christian.

I read a Kindle version of this book which is not listed in the Goodreads database. It lists illustrations with what looks like an associated dead internet link; so, I saw no figures. Many of the described figures are easily found on the internet.

ivyydu's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional informative reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

_dunno_'s review against another edition

5.0

Charming fictionalized memoirs of the Roman emperor who was probably the most hellenophile of them all, who lived, loved and did things many of us do, but did them in a way few of us actually do. Excellent portrayal of the relationship between Hadrian and Plotina, Trajan's wife; I wish I read something similar about her as well.